A gay romantic comedy at the intersection of imagination and anxiety overcomes Analysis Paralysis with the courage to reach for love!
OutCasting Overtime queer youth critique Alabama’s censorship of a Public Television kids’ show based on the over-sexualizing of gay identity!
Mark Segal and his infamous TV zaps that influenced U.S. network coverage of LGBTQ people get an LGBTQ History Month tribute!
Emmy-nominated YouTube sensation Randy Rainbow turns his political parody prowess on Trump henchman Rudy Giuliani!
A Uganda mob drives 16 gay men into abusive police hands, Northern Ireland gets marriage equality by default, Australia’s Census disappears queers, Chick-fil-A takes the low road to Scotland, and more international LGBTQ news!
Complete Program Summary and NewsWrap Transcript for the week of October 28, 2019
Analysis Paralysis & Arthur Anxiety!
Program #1,648 distributed 10/28/19
Hosted this week by Lucia Chappelle and produced with Greg GordonNewsWrap (full transcript below): A police “intervention” at the offices of a
homophobic mob-threatened Ugandan LGBTQ rights group nets 16 forced-to-be-anally-probed gay men
marriage equality and relaxed laws governing a woman’s right to choose finally arrive in Northern Ireland, courtesy of the British Parliament
the Australian Bureau of Statistics is under fire for dumping questions about sexuality and gender identity from the forms for the upcoming 2021 Census
Canadian queers breathe a semi-sweet sigh of relief following the re-election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but his Liberal Party loses its Parliamentary majority
New Zealand joins more than two dozen countries to deny an entry visa to rabidly-homophobic U.S. preacher Steven Anderson, who celebrated the massacre of “perverts and pedophiles” at Orlando, Florida’s
Pulse Nightclub
and the avowedly anti-queer-group-funding Chick-fil-A fast food franchise sneaks into Scotland (written by GREG GORDON, edited by LUCIA CHAPPELLE, reported this week by MICHAEL LEBEAU and JOHN DYER V, produced by BRIAN DESHAZOR).
Feature: Our JOHN DYER V reviews an online movie about a guy who has a tough time getting a move on (his review of Analysis Paralysis includes brief audio clips and music from the film).
Click here for special offers!
Feature: An augmented Rainbow Minute heralds an unusual queer hero for LGBTQ History Month: Mark Segal And His Famous TV Zaps (produced by JUDD PROCTOR and BRIAN BURNS, read by ALLAN LEVENBERG).
Feature: Getting along with each other is the theme of the animated U.S.
Public Television children’s show Arthur. That point escaped some people when the main character’s teacher got married, so our wise youth commentators from OutCasting Overtime explain it to them (“OutCaster” ALEX introduces ANDREW, who wrote the commentary with AMALEE; produced by MARC SOPHOS, with intro music from the Arthur animated PBS children’s TV show).
Feature: Emmy-nominated YouTube sensation Randy Rainbow turns his political parody prowess on another Trump dramedy character in Giuliani (Here He Goes Again).
NewsWrap
A summary of some of the news in or affecting global LGBTQ communities
for the week ending October 26, 2019
Written by Greg Gordon, edited by Lucia Chappelle,reported this week by Michael LeBeau and John Dyer V,produced by Brian DeShazorThey called hoping to be rescued from a homophobic mob, but they wound up being taken to jail and physically abused by police. The sixteen gay men work at the LGBTQ rights group Let’s Walk Uganda, near Kampala. At least some of them also live there. The slur-shouting horde descended on their offices on October 21st. Officers who arrested the gays claim that the detentions followed “complaints from the public.” Police officials say that a search of the facilities turned up lubricants, condoms and anti-viral drugs.
Each man was given a forced anal exam. The scientifically debunked and crudely invasive exams supposedly determine whether or not a man has engaged in homosexual acts. Uganda punishes such acts with up to life in prison.
The activist group announced on Facebook on October 24th that all 16 men had been released on bond. They are each charged with human trafficking and “carnal knowledge against the order of nature.”
The police raid comes amid increasing harassment and violence against people perceived to be LGBTQ in the east African nation’s already inhospitable environment. It’s known that at least 4 gay Ugandans have been brutally murdered in the past few months.
Why the upsurge in anti-queer sentiment? Conflicting government statements during the past few weeks suggested that the Anti-Homosexuality Act might be re-introduced. Its last incarnation was known around the world as the “Kill the Gays” bill because it included the death penalty for so-called “aggravated homosexuality.” A court nullified the law on a legal technicality five years ago.
There’s joyous news from Northern Ireland …
[sound: countdown to midnight and law change at Belfast bar]
That was the scene at Belfast’s Maverick Bar when marriage equality came to Northern Ireland at the stroke of midnight on October 21st. The semi-functional British Parliament had given Northern Ireland’s dysfunctional government until then to act on the issue. Few if any thought they would. Northern Ireland was the last major marriage equality holdout in the U.K.
Under provisions of the new laws, lesbian and gay couples will be able to start walking down the aisle on Valentine’s Day, 2020.
Abortion was also decriminalized. The new laws won’t fully come into force until March of next year, but they specify that no woman will be prosecuted for seeking abortion services as of October 22nd.
Northern Ireland’s majority Democratic Unionists party, the D.U.P., has strongly opposed marriage equality. They tried in vain to stop the legislation imposed by Parliament from taking effect. Party spokeswoman Arlene Foster said that the D.U.P. would introduce laws to protect “religious liberty.” That includes the right of religious institutions to refuse to conduct marriage ceremonies for same-gender couples. Foster also said that the party would offer a Private Member’s Bill to stop what she called the “liberalization of abortion legislation.”
That didn’t stop LGBTQ people and their supporters in venues big and small across Northern Ireland from celebrating the new laws.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is under fire for dropping questions about sexuality and gender identity from the planned 2021 Census. The government of Pentecostal Christian Prime Minister Scott Morrison denies that the questions were dumped at their direction. Nevertheless, Bureau chief David Kalisch [KAY-lihsh] told a Senate panel that his agency had destroyed about half of the 40,000 forms it had already printed that contained those questions. Kalisch says the forms were trashed to comply with what he called a government minister’s “expressed preference” prior to a mid-October test run.
The Census is conducted every five years to guide government in its allocation of services.
Liberal Party M.P. Katie Allen from the ruling coalition government is calling for those questions to be restored. She said it was ultimately the government’s decision, not the Bureau’s. In Allen’s words it’s important to include those questions “because we know the LGBTI communities are more vulnerable with regards to some aspects of healthcare provision, particularly some aspects of mental healthcare.” Opposition Labor Party Shadow Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and Senator Jenny McAllister call reports of the omissions “deeply concerning.” Their joint statement insists that “objection to a community or their sexual orientation is no reason to refuse to collect important information to help guide government service delivery.”
Canadian LGBTQ rights supporters are breathing a semi-sweet sigh of relief this week with the successful re-election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The staunchly pro-queer Liberal Party leader defeated climate change-denying, anti-choice Conservative Andrew Scheer. Scheer still disdains marriage equality, even all these years since its enactment.
However, Trudeau’s party lost its majority in the House of Commons. He’s expected to form a government with backing from two left-leaning minority parties.
The initiatives the Liberal Party campaigned on include ending the ban on blood donations by men who have sex with men. Outlawing so-called “conversion therapy” is also on their platform.
Trudeau’s re-election bid was hampered by scandal. Photos have surfaced showing him in brown face and black face during his younger days. He’s also accused of bullying his former Attorney General, an indigenous woman.
Leading Canadian queer advocacy group Egale cheered Trudeau’s victory based on the rights advances of his first four years. A spokesperson told Pink News that Egale is “hopeful that Trudeau’s second term will continue this momentum as we move forward.”
New Zealand is now the 34th country to refuse entry to the rabidly homophobic U.S. preacher Steven Anderson. Anderson leads the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Phoenix, Arizona. He in turn warned that New Zealand was “in trouble with the Lord.” According to immigration officials, the pastor is an “excluded person … because Mr. Anderson has previously been deported or excluded from other countries.”
Anderson is a Holocaust-denier who notoriously celebrated the 2016 massacre at the predominantly queer Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. He called the mass shooting “good news” because in his words, “these homosexuals are a bunch of disgusting perverts and pedophiles.” One of Anderson’s inflammatory YouTube videos proclaims that, “If you execute the homos like God recommends, you wouldn’t have AIDS.” Is it any surprise that Anderson and his fringe congregation are on the list of hate groups compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center?
New Zealand joins Australia, Canada, Botswana, Jamaica, South Africa, Ireland, and the United Kingdom in denying entry to the unapologetic purveyor of homophobia. He’s also barred from the 26 countries that comprise the common European travel area, Schengen.
Anderson warns that, “God is not going to bless a country that is turning away a missionary … they are going to be under the wrath of God and the punishment of God.”
There has not been evidence of any particular wrath against the visa-denying nations thus far.
Finally, Chick-fil-A is pecking at Scotland.
The certifiably anti-queer fast food franchise quietly opened an outlet at the Macdonald Aviemore Resort in the Scottish Highlands in early October. It’s now one of four eateries at the 4-star resort.
The corporate owners of Chick-fil-A are led by evangelical Southern Baptist C.E.O. Dan Cathy. Cathy calls marriage equality “an act of arrogance against God.” His company has proudly given millions of dollars to blatantly anti-queer organizations and programs. Multiple reports list the Fellowship of Christian Athletes among recent beneficiaries. Chick-fil-A gave more than one-and-a-half million dollars to that vocal opponent of marriage equality. Another donation went to a home for troubled youth that requires residents to strictly obey their interpretation of New Testament teachings. The “sinner-loving, sin-hating” Salvation Army has also feasted on Chick-fil-A’s millions. The restaurant is the third largest in the U.S. behind McDonald’s and Subway.
A Toronto franchisee who opened Canada’s first Chick-fil-A was greeted by days of LGBTQ and allies’ protests. Similar demonstrations hit the first Chick-fil-A outlet in Britain. The owners of the Reading [REH-dihng] shopping center that hosts the eatery there have announced that its lease would not be extended beyond its initial 6-month “trial period.”
Back in Scotland, a local newspaper reports that Macdonald Resort visitors are giving their new fowl sandwich outlet a “thumbs up” on Twitter – but that was before the word got “out.” We wonder how long it will be before queer activists decide to hike the Scottish Highlands.
© 2019 Overnight Productions (Inc.)
“Satisfying your weekly minimum requirement of queer news and culture for more than 30 years!”